Running wild; Beavers run over Goodland
Goodland, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Over the last 10 meetings Scott City has defeated Goodland by an average of 39-8, with three shutouts. Two of those games were at minimum a two-score victory for the Beavers. Friday night at Cowboy Stadium, Scott City had their way with Goodland, scoring on 10 of their 11 possessions in a 65-12 rout to win their 11th straight in the series. The lone non-scoring drive was the final series of the game.
Goodland (1-2, 0-2 GWAC) looked poised to make the game interesting early on. After taking the opening series down to the Scott City three, the Beaver defense stiffened, and forced a negative rush and three incompletions, and took possession at their own five. Eleven plays later, Trey O’Neil found paydirt from two yards out with 4:09 remaining in the first quarter. He would connect with Wyatt Kropp for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 Scott City. One more Beaver score would take place, as Cooper Griffith scored from 10 yards out on the final play of the first quarter, and O’Neil’s conversion pass to Chantz Yager made it 16-0 after the opening period.
After the Cowboys drove to the Scott City 20 yard line, Trey O’Neil intercepted Kolt Traschel’s pass in the end zone. Eleven plays later, Wyatt Kropp scored on a four-yard run with 4:45 remaining in the half. Brett Meyer was a recipient of a two-point conversion catch from O’Neil to make it 24-0. The Cowboys would throw another interception two plays later. Scott City (3-0, 2-0 GWAC) would capitalize again, as O’Neil found Yager on a 12-yard pass play with over three minutes left before the break to make it 30-0, and Tre Stewart tacked on a PAT to push the lead to 31-0. Goodland would get on the board late in the first half. On third down, Traschel found Levi Archer on a 53-yard fade pattern with 1:34 left before halftime to cut the deficit to 31-6. Scott City tacked on one more score before halftime. With five seconds remaining before the break, Stewart tied a career-best 32-yard field goal, as it hit the back of the cross bar and went in to make it 34-6 at intermission.
Things would get uglier for Goodland on homecoming night in the third quarter. On the third play of the drive, Cooper Griffith scored for the second time of the night on an eight yard run, and the Stewart PAT pushed the lead to 41-6 just 63 second into the second half. The Cowboys scored their final points of the night on the ensuing kickoff. Austin Hernandez took the kickoff 76 yards to make it 41-12. It would take Scott City three plays to score again. Wyatt Kropp found the end zone from 13 yards out with 9:55 remaining in the third quarter, and Stewart’s PAT made it 48-12. Five minutes later, Tre Stewart booted in his second 32-yard field goal to make it 51-12. Goodland would make one more trip inside the Beaver 10 yard line, before the Scott City defense forced a turnover on downs. Two plays later, Kropp took the handoff to the right side, and scored from 88 yards away with 1:54 left in the third period, and Stewart’s point-after try gave the Beavers a 58-12 lead. That would force a running clock for the rest of the game.
With a huge lead and a running clock, the second team would enter the game. At the seven-minute mark of the fourth frame, Kevin Lozano plunged in from a yard out, and Stewart’s kick finished off the scoring to make it 65-12.
Scott City ended up gaining 709 yards of offense, with 514 on the ground. Cooper Griffith rushed for two scores and 183 yards, while Wyatt Kropp had 153 yards and three touchdowns. That’s the first time that the Beavers have had two 100-plus rushers in a game since November 5, 2011, when Colborn Couchman had 217 yards and Dalton Buehler rushed for 165 yards in a playoff win over Smith Center. Trey O’Neil was 16-of-24 for 195 yards and a touchdown. Chantz Yager led in receiving yards, as he had four for 66 and a touchdown. Brett Meyer had five receptions for 52 yards. Scott City finished with 31 first downs in the game.
Goodland ended up with 312 yards of offense, and only six rushing yards. Kolt Traschel was 17-for-35 for 306 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Levi Archer caught four passes for 156 yards and a touchdown, while Luke Avila caught nine passes for 117 yards.
With the win, Scott City has now won 11 straight meetings, dating back to 2006. This was the widest margin of victory in the streak, and the fourth time in the last five games the Beavers have put up at least 50 points on Goodland. The 65 points were the most points put up by Scott City since week nine of 1994, when they hung 61 points on Hugoton.
Up next for Scott City is a home game with Holcomb on Friday. The Longhorns knocked off Ulysses in overtime 17-14. Both teams are 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Great West Activities Conference. Goodland travels to Hugoton, who saw Colby snap their 17-game losing skid, as both teams look for their first league win.
Assistant Coach Brian Gentry Postgame
